The 28-year-old driver from Spartanburg, S.C., was helping an MTV blogger find the hauler of another driver Feb. 23 when, according to MTV, he used the N-word to illustrate that drivers who race too aggressively will be roughed up.

“I wasn’t thinking,” Clements told reporters Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I was just walking along trying to help the guy find somebody else. I just blurted it out. As soon as I did, I knew I didn’t do good.

“I knew I messed up but it was too late and I just kept talking. It was stupid.”

Driving for his family owned team, Clements opened the media session with a lengthy apology, saying, “I made a remark that has no place in our society.” He added that he did not mean to offend anyone.

He said that using the racial slur is not indicative of who he is. His said his grandfather was a crew chief for African-American racer Wendell Scott in 1965.

“It doesn’t represent who I am or what I’m about. … Hopefully I can make it right and show who I really am,” Clements said.

NASCAR suspended Clements indefinitely after he made the comment, and Clements took a one-day class with University of Central Florida sociologist Dr. Richard Lapchick, a noted professor who runs the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

Clements paid $2,500 to attend the class. He said one of his sponsors offered to pay it, but he paid for it himself.

He said that Lapchick talked about the origin and meaning of words and why they would offend people.

“You sit out here and talk to people all the time and make jokes and somebody could say something offensive and you might not say something,” Clements said.

“But from now on, I’m going to stand up and say, ‘Man, that ain’t something you should say’ and try to pass along what I learned.”

Knowing he needs money to race, Clements said he hopes sponsors would be willing to give him a second chance. He said he lost one sponsor over the incident but that others have stuck with him.

Clements finished 15th in the Nationwide Series in 2011 and 14th in 2012. He finished 33rd in the season-opening race at Daytona. Ryan Sieg replaced him for the two races he missed.

“I hope it don’t hurt my relationship with those (major NASCAR) teams,” Clements said. “I think everybody deserves a second chance, and I think you’ve got to look at the person’s history.

“I’ve never been in trouble with NASCAR, and I always try to do the right thing. … I hope it (doesn’t hurt my career), but I don’t know.”

Clements’ conversation with the MTV blogger was not recorded and was made in the presence of a NASCAR employee. Clements said that when asked about what he said, he owned admitted it to NASCAR officials and never thought about denying it.

He said NASCAR did what it had to do as far as suspending him.

“It really hit me hard,” Clements said. “When I got the call from NASCAR, I was definitely shocked. … It has been very, very tough on me. I’m just so happy to be back and just be able to race again.”